Photographing by the wilderness, a panoramic journey

I was away for about two weeks for a photo shoot by the valley of Northern Xinjiang Province, close to the border of Russia and Kashgar, near the border of Tajikistan. It was a personal project aimed to capture the panoramic scenery of the autumn wilderness woodland among the local village. The journey took me about 2 days from the main capital of Wulumuqi City via buses and public transport. Upon reaching there, I was sick for about three days, so I had to stay in the hotel of a small town called Habahe before moving ahead for the journey. However, days passes quickly before I finally managed to reach the riverbank to set up my tent.

Camping ground along the riverside.

I was warned by the local people to better stay along the riverbank closer to a nearby village for safety purpose. Sometime wolves may be roaming around the wood at night in this season of the year. For they often travel in packs and tails behind among the local shepherd who lead their sheep around this land in seeking for a better grassland. To take their heed, I’ve set up my tent by this riverbank. Once in a while fishermen would come to the riverside for fishing. But most of the time, I’m all along there. The woods are quiet, peaceful and calm. Local cows and camels can also be seen feeding by the grass nearby while taking a drink by the riverside. The temperature between day and night is about 18 to 4 degree Celsius. It’s a good thing that I’m prepared especially with enough clothing and sleeping bag to keep me warm throughout the night.

I spend few days exploring around the riverside to find a suitable spot before setting up my tripod for the shoot. The weather was unpredictable with clouds hovering over the sky, and strong wind blowing in the wood. It’s been a challenge for me to be always in a constant waiting mode for the right moment for the shoot. As the sun would appear momentarily before disappearing into the thick cloud. However, I managed to take a couple of nice shot during the trip. I took a series of about 10-12 vertical shots for each scene before stitching them together with Photoshop and cropping each scene to an aspect ratio of 3:1 panoramic. Took me at least a week time for the post processing process before ready to be uploaded to the server online. Below are 5 panoramic scenes which I’ve uploaded to share with you all. I’ll be back to upload more soon. So, hope you enjoy, and have a great week. Cheers!

A view from the top of the valley looking down towards the riverside surrounded by vast landscape of deepwood.

Hanging bridge connecting to the other side of the river where my camping ground located. A group of camel can be seen by the river water at the far edge of the river.

Blue skies and water by the river shore. I shot this while I was exploring along the riverside during the evening sunset.

Sunlight piercing through among the trees of the wide open grassland.

A morning walk in the woodland after my breakfast. It was a pleasant and delightful walk as I venture deeper into the land.

About:

Paul Chong is a landscape fine art photographer base in Shanghai, China. He is dedicated to capture the beauty of nature scenery in which he also creates colorful fine art photograph for sale in various format and sizes, featuring museum archival quality fine print. Some of his work can be seen published in various magazine, website, event brochure and flyer.